Hitt and Coates earn USA South Athlete of the Week honors

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Two Huntingdon student-athletes were named USA South Athletic Conference Athletes of the Week on Monday.

Sam Hitt was recognized as the Defensive Player of the Week for men's lacrosse and Bryce Coates was chosen as the Rookie of the Week for men's lacrosse. This is the fourth time each player has been recognized this season.

This is the seventh time in nine weeks that Huntingdon has had at least one men's lacrosse player recognized.

Hitt and Coates were recognized for their performances in a 13-3 win over Division II Shorter University and a 16-2 win over USA South rival Averett University. The win over Averett capped a 6-0 conference record for the Hawks and clinched the first USA South Athletic Conference regular-season championship for men's lacrosse. This is the first season the USA South has sponsored men's lacrosse.

Huntingdon will be in the hunt for the first USA South Athletic Conference Tournament championship later this week. The Hawks will open the conference tournament against Greensboro on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (Central).

In last week's win, Hitt was 30-for-38 on faceoffs, had 15 ground balls and one assist. Hitt was 15-for-20 on faceoffs with eight ground balls and an assist against Shorter and was 15-for-18 on faceoffs with seven ground balls against Averett.

For the season, the Finksburg, Md., native is 218-for-311 on faceoffs. He leads Division III in faceoff wins and his 70.1 faceoff winning percentage is in the top-10 in Division III.

Coates finished the week with six goals, one assist, six ground balls and two caused turnovers. Coates had four goals and four ground balls and one caused turnover against Shorter and added two goals, an assist, two ground balls and one caused turnover against Averett.

To view the entire USA South Athletes of the Week, click here.